River Edge finishes work on new parking lot

The commercial parking lot on Grove Street in River Edge has been constructed and officials are now looking to fill the remaining spots.

The lot contains 12 parking spots total, and six of them have already been sold, according to Mayor Sandy Moscaritolo.

The parking lot is located on Grove Street near Park Avenue, between Washington and Lincoln avenues, and is situated a few blocks away from the River Edge Train Station in the commercial district. Parking in the lot is by application and will be available from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Officials have been looking to add a significant amount of parking to the borough for drivers - be it shoppers or commuters - in order to spur businesses' growth along the Kinderkamack Road corridor. The regulated parking in the Grove Street lot is for Kinderkamack Road north municipal businesses and their employees.

If employees parked in the Grove Street lot, business owners say that could free up the limited parking spots on Kinderkamack Road in front of businesses that are deemed a necessity to their success.

According to Moscaritolo, the contractors have already completed phase one of the plan for the parking lot.

"The lot has been striped," said Borough Administrator Alan Negreann at a meeting on Aug. 4. "The sign is up. We have sold, I believe, six parking spaces at this point. Letters went out to businesses. We are reviewing one concern in regard to a planter on the right hand side of the parking lot as you drive in."

Negreann said that he would address any further issues with the police chief and Department of Public Works (DPW) superintendent.

"I'll be in touch with Chief Cariddi and John Lynch," Negreann said. "It's functional at this point. We are ready to accept parking [applications]."

"It looks really good," said Councilwoman Kathleen Murphy.

"Alright, some headway," added Moscaritolo.

Some residents around Grove Street have raised issues about the parking lot. One adjacent homeowner, Peg Sorrentino, said that she hopes the employees make use of the lot.

"If you want to print out fliers, I'd be happy to put them on cars parked in front of my house and down on my street. They start from 11 a.m. and they go until sometimes 7 p.m., and a few cars parked all day long, in front of the house and in front of the street," Sorrentino said. "I hope it works. We'll see."

If the remainder of the spots are sold, there are some minor details to be resolved.

"There are some very large stones that are being used to retain the soil around the trees. I just have some concerns about a car backing up into that and maybe we should look to an alternative," said Negreann.

"Part of that is my property," said Sorrentino. "I would love notification before."

Negreann noted that residents would be kept in the loop.

"I've told the superintendent that we're not doing anything until we bring the residents in on it and discuss it with them," said Negreann.

"If the other six spots are sold, then we did allocate some funding in this year's budget to begin a second phase of removing the concrete slabs, and opening up the easement for access," said Moscaritolo. "It's still a wait-and-see game. We're just seeing if there's any additional need."

"Does anybody's gut feeling tell you that these spots are going to go?" asked Sorrentino. "I mean, letters went out to the businesses."

"A year ago we had council chambers full of local business owners who were screaming for parking," said Moscaritolo. "There is nothing more to be done, unless we have purchasers for the other assigned parking spots."